WASHINGTON — A new report by a conservation group warns that more drilling in Los Padres National Forest could have a devastating effect on wildlife and natural habitats.

The Wilderness Society report lists Los Padres among 12 U.S. places it says should be protected from future oil and gas drilling.

“Too Wild to Drill” says the oil industry has 180 operating wells in less sensitive parts of Los Padres and warns against more drilling.

“It’s a landscape that absolutely deserves to be protected,” said Warren Alford, California regional representative for the society, which compiled the report.

About 875,000 acres of the forest’s nearly 1.8 million acres of public land are designated wilderness areas, the highest form of protection available for federal lands. Drilling is allowed on nearly 5,000 acres in the forest. But in 2005, the U.S. Forest Service approved a plan that would allow drilling to expand to three areas covering nearly 52,075 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Additional drilling could jeopardize endangered species such as the California condor, threaten a major source of drinking water and endanger hiking and other outdoor adventures that bring millions of tourism dollars to the local economy, the report says.

“It’s a wake-up call,” Alford said. “Oftentimes, folks are unaware that special places they think are permanently protected actually aren’t. Los Padres is one of those places. The opportunity now is to try to figure out: How do we help steer the development of energy in Los Padres to places that are less sensitive and away from places that are more sensitive, and in the long run, how do we permanently protect those places?”

Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association, said he had not read the report but said drilling is possible on public lands without endangering them.

“Oil and gas development takes place on properties, including public lands,” Hull said. “They are managed rigorously, and they are regulated rigorously. There are tremendous amounts of regulations designed to protect wildlife as well as water quality and air quality and land-use considerations. The history is quite robust in demonstrating that can be done.”

As for the report, “There are groups, and The Wilderness Society is among them, who have very strong ideas about how the nation’s natural resources should be used,” Hull said. “I’m sure the managers of those resources will take their request seriously, but they will also evaluate it in the context of other benefits that are derived from activities like energy development.”

Besides Los Padres, the places on the “Too Wild to Drill” list are Arches National Park in Utah, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Desolation Canyon in Utah, the Greater Dinosaur region in Colorado, George Washington National Forest in Virginia, the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana, Otero Mesa in New Mexico, the Red Desert in Wyoming, the Thompson Divide in Colorado and Wyoming Range in Wyoming.